Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Wait List...

Ah, the wait list. There is a certain level of excitement when you realize you may have to start creating one. There are projects filling up your pipeline by clients wanting to work with you and ones that are in progress that are eager to be displayed on your website. So is it a good idea to make your wait list public?

Shari Miller who is the owner of Little Blue Deer is a brilliant web/blog designer to many award winning bloggers and interior designers. LBD was featured in House of Fifty Magazine and is actually our very own personal web/blog designer. On her website, she has a dedicated page titled "wait list" that showcases her clients in a week to week fashion. It points out when her next available work week will be and expresses her appreciation to the list of clients she soon will be working with. "The reason I post a public wait list is so that new clients can see in
real time the wait they are looking at and the reason behind it. Plus it is a record for me to keep track of what I am doing and also
clients in the queue can check and see when they are schedule for work."

Another favorite of ours comes from designer, Claudia Giselle. I loved hanging with Claudia at last year's Holiday House where she featured her glam style dressing room. She has a different approach to the waiting list that she displays on her portfolio page. There you will see her work, but you will also see projects that are "In Progress". I love how it shows an array of work she takes on from residential to commercial. Locations are given instead of client's names and even though the list may be overwhelming to some, it shows a firm that has tight reins and can take on more.

I remember working for a designer that did not embrace social media. It was like pulling teeth to get a Facebook page for the company. So I decided that I would have the website showoff the firm's work with projects titled "New Project Images Coming Soon". I wanted there to be a least 4 or 5 of these projects along side the completed ones. It was a way to give potential clients a reason to come back to the site and to see a firm that was growing. There were story lines added next to each project's location. It gave potential clients a reason to come back to the website to see when projects were completed and where their project was on the lineup.

Create that list and get people wanting to wait on it.

Whether you want to call it a wait list or just formulate a list of your projects that are waiting for your attention, I think it is a great idea to let the public know what is in the works for your business. Let the world know you are proud of your lineup and coming soon projects. Give them a reason to return and want to be on that list. Let your potential clients know how much you appreciate them, by displaying their project on your page as a "coming soon" feature. Obviously you do not have to give names, but tell a story about it or provide the general location. The goal is to let the public know you are a working firm with exciting projects and engage them on wanting in. We all love to be on the VIP list so create one and get clients to want to wait on it.

XOXO

Barbara V.

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Thank you CJ Dellatore for your sweet comment. Small design firms are not being taken as seriously and to list those "in progress" projects is great way to let potential clients understand that they must adhere to the LIST!

Thank you Phyllis! Showcasing work in progress is just as important as the completed projects. It becomes a storyline on where you are in business as well let's the potential client understand their lead time. So thrilled to see you here Phyllis. (Celebrity Designer Giddiness)